In this recent interview with newsmen, Speaker, Kwara State House of Assembly, Ali Ahmad talks about wide range of issues in the polity as the 8th legislature winds up its activities. HEAD POLITICS, MUMINI ABDULKAREEM was there. Excerpts:
The 8th Kwara State House of Assembly under your watch did so well that some even accused you of being antagonistic to the executive. What informed some of your actions that could be termed as radical?
The legislative House has very limited although very important powers spelt out in the constitution and it does not depend on one’s likes or dislikes. This includes exposing corruption by acting as check and balance, make budget for the executive, and investigate how appropriated money is spent through oversight functions among others. This is also the function of Press and that is why democracy recognised it as the fourth constitutional arm of government. And once the House is able to expose corruption, it is now left for the Press to take it further just like we did in the case of Harmony Holdings, the House can’t charge them to court. So what has been pushing us is that we don’t want to agonise on what we would have done or not after we have left because I don’t think I would ever be speaker of Kwara State again. This is one of a lifetime opportunity. My advice to others is that once you occupy a position of responsibility, see it as if you will never come back.
As a one-party political system, how was it possible to resist the temptation of being a rubber stamp to the executive?
Yes, the pressure is on you and there is the tendency to defer to the executive arm more than anything. But the reality is that it will be the people of the state that will suffer and regret will later set in after your tenure. The governor you believe you are serving rather than the state has his functions and name to bear. Being a one-party legislature gave me the impetus to be cautious and ask whether we are doing the right thing or not. Now that we are opposition, I believe it is needless because we have been doing everything the right way. Today we just announce an opposition member, Saheed Popoola as the chairman of Committee on Public Account because that is the right thing to do as opposition must be the head of such committee.
Do you think the 8th Assembly under you have been able to put in place laws that would further enhance the wellbeing and development of the state?
Since the creation of Kwara state, we probably passed the highest number of laws. However the one I would consider as landmark legislation was the first private member bill since unlike before where you have to wait for the executive to bring bills. I am very proud of that. I am sure the 9th assembly will do same which has started happening in a few states. We have the bill on health insurance where we put about a billion naira in this year’s budget to cater for the downtrodden. Reason the effect has not been felt I think is because banks are not sure whether the incoming administration will implement, which boils down to lack of understanding. This is a Law that any government must carry out. The health insurance management is about to capture vulnerable people that can’t afford their hospital bills from the wards and provide them with cards that will cover their treatment, consultation and drugs in Kwara hospitals with the payment of just N1,000 per annum. It’s an avenue where the rich people and government will contribute money to subsidise the health requirement of the poor people. The bill on Urban and Regional Development that seeks to take care of the proliferation of filling stations in the state is also another landmark for us but it is still not properly implemented. The legislations against dealing in human parts and the one that further extends where you cannot produce and consume alcohol are also there and one of those that we are particularly proud of is the one that restricts the pension law of governors in the state because it is political, which people think we cannot but we did.
Can we say your legal background assisted you on how you have fared thus far?
I don’t think it has anything to do with legal practice but just (having the courage) to do things right. Saheed Popoola, the only APC member among us might be surprise over his appointment but that is the right thing and we don’t need his permission to do that. We have carried everybody along and that is why we don’t have issue of throwing chairs and fighting, which is very common in other state assemblies. I hope this is the culture that the next House will follow.
Your tenure as the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice witnessed construction of the judges’ quarters and High Courts across some parts of the state, what is your take on what we have now?
Kwara State should rank among top five jurisdictions in the country where litigation is very competitive with legislative excellence. We have so many NBA chairmen and other national officers practising from here. We need more High Courts because some are in deplorable condition, but more importantly, we need to keep up the quality of what we have. I am no longer in the executive; fund from the judiciary comes from federation account and allocation from the state. Whenever budget is brought, we try to approve whatever they have for judiciary but we have issue about releases. Now the judiciary will soon be autonomous through the constitutional amendment. When we have two arms struggling for autonomy, we focused on our own which we now have gotten and I hope the next House will fight for autonomy for the Kwara judiciary. Then they will able to construct needed courts. Kwara legislature is about one of the two that are autonomous nationally because of the understanding between us and the governor. Although it is constitutional, the governors will fight and resist it seriously and it might be on for four years because it is reducing their own financial autonomy.
What inflames your passion for assisting people despite state legislatures not being a millionaire’s environment?
One has to do that as a politician. Some of the people do not care whether you passed the most beautiful laws. And you can’t blame them because the system has been neglected. It is what you give that can put meal on their table, they only know you as their president, governor and everything. So you try to balance it. Some people only need good governance unlike this set of people and you have to continue to give in line with the ability of your resources. We thank God for the impact and happiness we have brought to them with the little we were able to do.
Has legislative independence been fully activated financially and otherwise in Kwara?
It is only the financial aspect that has issue; money is the only aspect that binds us together with the executive, which is only on quarterly subvention which is in the budget. Our monthly survival doesn’t depend on them because we get our fund through first line charge. For me, that is okay and the best thing to do. Once you start taking money for capital projects, you also become subject of oversight. It is better to let the executive do it and we have limited requests for the capital projects.
How would you say you are leaving the legislature compared to how you met it?
A lot better. Unlike the quarters for legislators which were sold during the time of Obasanjo, now we have legislative assembly. We have taken it as a challenge to get mortgage as legislators to own a house and spread the payment in four years. It was a fantastic idea. Those of us not from Ilorin have comfortable houses in the same place now and I hope the ninth legislature can do the same for their members. The Public hearing building that we are constructing was not a happenstance. We ignited the interest of people in what we were doing and all our rooms became very insufficient as a people centric assembly.
What is your most challenging period as the Speaker of the Kwara State House of Assembly?
It has been very problematic having funding to operate and deplore for the welfare of my members. Then coming from the National Assembly where everything is provided for in abundance to where …. but you become used to it.
Is there any provision in the House rule that talks on the election of a new speaker?
Yes and that is it should be a ranking member.
Does it mean we already have a known speaker now or the rules can be amended during inauguration?
That is not my headache, I have spoken to my friends in APC and each time you get different responses. I would have been happy if they (APC) is unanimous say this is our speaker for me to start relating with him, showing him the way, but they all want different persons as speakers. I have been receiving designated speakers from other states whose names I would not mention for mentorship but unfortunate, I cannot relate with my own.
Do you have any regret being associated with the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki?
Not at all. I will leave my comment till after two years from now on what Saraki has been able to do with the Nigerian Senate. We now look at the records of those before and after him. Now because he has this raging battle with the executive, Nigerians will not know what they have or missing in Saraki until when he is no more there. Thank God, it is the same president and we will have same parameters to gauge the situation. I still believe in my heart that we don’t put the right people in the right places in Nigeria. If Saraki becomes the President today, Nigeria will never be the same again. We have met with both APC and PDP senators who are regretting that Saraki is not coming back but they say different things outside (for politics). It is unfortunate that Kwarans do not know Saraki because if they did, they would have said even if we hate his structures, let us return him and change the governor, reps members, senators and House of Assembly members. In fact I expected the elders of Kwara to say nobody can be Senate President in Kwara State and if we lose it now, we don’t know how many decades that we can have it again like it was done in a particular North Eastern state where the elders stopped others irrespective of parties not to contest against the speaker who has the prospect of retaining his position if he wins. Saraki would have been the ninth Senate President, this much we know and he has attracted billions of naira worth of project to Kwara State with thousands employment in his first year.
